Monthly Archives: December 2012

With Christmas quickly approaching, you may be scratching your head wondering what to get for the tech-savvy people your life. But fret not, we’ve got you covered. Whether you’re purchasing a gift for a family member, a friend, or one of your employees, this list is sure to help you find the perfect gift for the techies in your life.

The Berg Cloud Little Printer is a cute, cube-like printer that connects to the web, and automatically checks your news sources, social feeds, to do lists, and more, and prints them on a small receipt-sized paper, for you to digest at your leisure. Manage the printer’s feed schedule and more using your computer or smartphone.

is that it can give any camera or digital device wireless capabilities, without having to upgrade the device. As long as the device takes memory cards, it can accept Eye-fi memory, allowing you to easily upgrade your devices to the wi-fi age, without a lot of hassle or expense.

Perfect for any music lover or cubicle dweller, these high tech ear bud head phones offer customer-fit, and noise canceling features. Developed by LiveWires these were created to bridge the gap between consumer level ear buds and high end musician in-ear monitors.

More than just a writing device, the LiveScribe pen is a high tech echo smartpen that allows you record your written notes, audio, and more, together or separately. Once recorded, your information automatically transfers to your Evernote account wirelessly, so that your important notes are always synced to your account.

The days of ruining keyboards are a think of the past with the Logitech Washable keyboard. The design includes drainage holes, to allow water to easily run off and evaporate, and was created to handle anything from a light dusting, to actual submersion into water.

The newest of the Windows operating systems, Windows 8 features touch screen capabilities, update menus and layout, and more. If you’re feeling really nice, make sure to purchase Windows 8 on a device with a touch screen, to give the ultimate tech gift.

Want to save a little money? You can get a voucher to purchase Windows 8 Pro for only $14.99, when you purchase any new computer between June 2, 2012 and January 31, 2013. You could always get yourself the new computer, leave it as is, and give the upgrade to your favorite tech.

There is an easier way to access programs remotely, rather than going through the TS Remote Desktop Connection

If you are already using Microsoft Terminal Services to remote into the office, you understand how valuable this tool is for providing access to your files and other information when you are out of the office.

However, even though it’s quite beneficial to access your information this way, it can take a few minutes to log into the system and get what you want, even when you have a shortcut saved on your desktop.

Additionally, when you access your office via terminal services, a window appears, displaying a secondary desktop. Sometimes you will need to switch between the term server desktop, and your laptop or mobile desktop, to accomplish certain tasks. Unfortunately, flipping back and forth like this has also been known to cause confusion with users, especially when the two desktops are too similar.

But what if there was an easier, faster way to allow you to connect remotely and access your information without ever leaving your local desktop? Well there is such a way, and it’s called Terminal Services Remote App (or TS Remote App).

Available on Windows Server 2008 and newer, TS Remote App allows you to access remote programs through the Terminal Server, but they appear as if they are running locally on your computer.

Accessing your commonly used office programs this way provides many benefits. First, it’s faster. You don’t have to go through multiple steps to access the programs and information that you need.

Second, it saves users frustration and confusion because the remote programs look and act like they are running on the local computer, even when they are not. Additionally, it saves new users confusion, because they don’t have to learn about logging into to a secondary source to access the office.

Third, TS Remote App is a great solution for running company software on small netbooks and other devices which may not have a CD rom drive or a large enough hard drive to accommodate installing the software on the actual device.

As an added perk, you can also use TS Remote App to allow your office programs and files to be available to employees through a web page that they can access as long as they have an internet connection. This feature can be extremely beneficial to remote employees.

If your office is already taking advantage of the features of Microsoft Terminal Services, and you want to take it to the next level, consider utilizing the features of TS Remote Apps. Once everything is setup, and shortcuts are created on laptops and other mobile devices, you’ll wonder how you ever got along without it.

If you want to start using remote features such as Terminal Services, and TS Remote Apps, but you don’t know where to start, call us today. We can help get your office up and running so that you can access it securely from anywhere, as long as you have an internet connection.

This article is the final entry in a three part series where we outline steps to take to help you achieve cohesion with your business technology. By following the steps outlined, you should see a dramatic increase in the stability and flexibility of your computers and equipment, freeing you up to focus on more important matters. Click here to read part one and part two of the series.

Aside from stabilizing your systems, having backups and redundancies in place, automating and streamlining processes, and allowing remote access into the office, there is one more area where your technology can help you achieve a more cohesive relationship with your business.

5. Flexibility

However, the easiest way to achieve peace and relaxation with your technology is by having flexible systems that work with you, not against you.

In order for your technology to truly be beneficial, it should give you the ability to go anywhere you need to go. Often, this is accomplished through remote access, and mobile devices such as laptops, tablets, aircards, mobile hot spots, and more.

But having flexibility is more than just being mobile with your business. It also includes being able to adjust readily and easily. When you need to add more staff, more equipment, more of anything, your current structure should be scalable, and easily grow as your business changes.

Additionally, a flexible system is one that works with your schedule. This means that problems and outages are handled after hours, when at all possible, in order to have the least impact on your productive time. Now days, with computers this is completely possible, as log files often show errors on failing hardware long before the part actually breaks. This allows repairs to be scheduled when the computer isn’t in use.

While there are many ways to achieve peace and relaxation with your business, these are some of the key areas we find to be the most beneficial for reaching this goal quickly. If your technology is problematic, chances are you are going to be dealing with headaches, stress, and more time away from your core focus, leaving you frustrated and wiped out. By taking these key components into consideration, and changing where needed, you can be on your way to a better relationship with your business. After all, your business is only as strong as the technology it uses.

While this series doesn’t illustrate all of the ways to achieve peace and relaxation with your business, these suggestions will go a long way to helping you have confidence in your business infrastructure and enjoy your technology more. You should assess your business to see where improvements can be made. If you find that your current IT Company isn’t doing some of these important things, give us a call. We can help get your technology on the right track, freeing you up to focus on the most important thing – your business.